The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-11-23
Chance Hints of Authors.

NHdhNt vi AulnVi -
A tattered and thumb-marked copy
of Habberton's Helen's Babies " lay
upon the shelf of one of the largest
secondhand bookstores in New York
and suggested the question whether it
had not had larger sale than any
American work of fiction, excepting
d" Uncle Toms Cabin" The proprietor,
who knows as much about books as
Joseph H. Choate does of law, replied
that while " Helen's Babies " had been
one of the most extraordinary sue
cesses in the book trade it did not
stand second to "Uncle Toms Cabin"
Then he rummaged around on dusty
shelf, and took down thick volume,
whose covers have faded from original
black to light drab color, and, blowing
the dust from the leaves, said that he
presumed that book had, next to
" Uncle TOMS CABIN had the largest
sale of any work of fiction by an Ameri-
can author. l made out the letters of
the title. 1t was "The Lamplighter."
The book is now almost unknowH to
the younger generation of readers, but
thirty years ago it caused countless
tears to flow 1t would give Mr.. How
ellis the horrors to read it, and vet
more copies of it, three or four times
over, have been sold than all of How
ellis books put together. Over two
hundred editions of one thousand
copies each were sold, and there is
even now more demand for it, mainly
from persons who read it years ago,
and, remembering it with delight,
sought it again. 1.-THE Lamplighter "
was written by a Boston woman, and is
a Boston tale. But, though its sue
cess was so phenomenal, the author
was for many years unknown, and
even now her name would be unrecog-
nized, even by persons of literary habits,
if it were mentioned. 1t was single
flavor of her talent, and, though it
brought some money to her purse, it
never made for her the fame that its
success, whatever its literary merits
were, ought to have given her. Moth
ing is known of this author except that
she was a school-teacher and had
worked at odd moments for several
years upon the story. Then it re-
manned in her desk some time longer
and afterward met the fate of manu-
script of unknown authors in being
promptly rejected by several publish.
ers. 1t is an idea of Mark Twain's
that no new author ever made a great
success upon work that he wrote
with the special view of making money.
His own experience, however, does not
support this idea. The "Innocents
Abroad " was written with no other
purpose than to coin it into shekels,
and mighty hard wolk the humorist
had at first to find the mint. But it is
fact that many of the greatest sue
cesses of American fiction-writers have
been due partly to accident and partly
to unexpected circumstances. The
veteran bookseller picked up a copy of
Howe's /" Story of Country Town."
and since that the merest chance con-
verted this work into great success.
Howe was young printer and pub
Usher of little newspaper in Atchi-
son, Kansas. Nobody suspected that
he had any literary ability. He was
not at all sure of it himself. But the
impulse TO write seized him and he
yielded to it. After his paper had
been put to press and he had eaten
his supper he shut himself up in his
editorial den, or his chamber, and
wrote. Sometimes his lines came
very hard. Sometimes the pen flowed
smoothly until long past midnight.
He took no model. He tried to imi-
tate none of the masters of fiction. He
wrote as he felt like it. A good many
times he was on the point of throwing
his manuscript into the fire, and very
often, as he chewed the end of his pen
holder, his audacity frightened him.
But he finished the story, set it up in
his own office, published it himself,
and rank, fiat failure it was. Some
of those who read it laughed at it, and
some laid it aside with the faintest
praise. "That settles it," said Howe,
Pm done" And the book was for
gotten. Some months later stout lit
tie man, who was poking around the
books at a secondhand stall in Boston,
found copy of the Story of Coun-
try Town" He ran his eyes over a
page, then read a chapter, then he
bought the book and took it home, and
in the next number of the atlantic Mr..
Howells announced that he had found
jewel, and the success of the story
was established. Howe could scarcely
believe his eyes when they lighted
upon this notice in the Atlantic, but he
speedily had evidence that he had
made hit in the shape of an offer by
prominent publishers to put the work
on the market. 1t ran up to a dozen
editions at once, was praised by the
gingerly Spectator of London, and sold
m